Lethe
by Ruki44
Summary: To forget is a terrible thing. Yet whispers of the past seem to be bubbling up below the surface and with each burst bubble, there are some things just better left forgotten. Supplement story to Mnemosyne.
1. Ghosts

**Authors Note:** So for those of those who haven't read the story Mnemosyne, I highly suggest you do so because this story is a supplement to that fiction. While you don't _need_ to read the other I suppose, the series of one shots which Lethe will be made up of are old memories from that story. Lethe will be updated with those memories each time a character in Mnemosyne remembers them. This way readers can know exactly what is going on without **Crazyeight _,_** who is my co-author in both Lethe and Mnemosyne, and I don't want to derail the main story. On the same token, these memories _are_ important, so we feel the readers ought to know what is going on.

The first chapter, Ghosts, takes place after chapter 16 but prior to chapter 17 in the Mnemosyne.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Ghosts**

It was late.

The last exam before the end of the current term had been today, but instead of being exhausted Jeri was filled with vigor as she scrolled through the website, the blue light of her computer casting an eerie glow on her exhausted, but thoughtful, face.

 _Hmm..._ she thought as her pencil tapped on the notepad she had grabbed to write down ideas for the trip the five of them were taking. While they had agreed rather readily to go to the beach, Jeri couldn't help but get distracted and see if there was any local paranormal haunts nearby for them to visit. After all if they could see echoes of the past that must mean ghosts were real.

Pausing when she noticed a name almost stand out in the long list of links on Google, she leaned forward as she put her pencil in her mouth before clicking on it.

 _Himuro Mansion ... I've heard of this before._

While the Himuro Mansion was a popular local legend in the Tokyo area, placing it in the rocky region just beyond the city limits of Tokyo, there was something more ... _familiar_ to the story than that.

 _Wait a minute ... I recognize this stair path._ Her heart pounding in excitement, in her mind's eye there was a flash of recognition and suddenly she was about six years younger and standing on the stone path, the full moon casting an eerie glow on the shrine just ahead.

 _"Jeri, stop gawking and let's go_. Her head turned to see Rika, wearing the full heart t-shirt she hadn't seen on her in so many years, hair long and pulled back in a ponytail. _"Don't tell me you of all people are getting cold feet."_

Opening her eyes - she didn't even know she closed them, she quickly looked around for her diary, her heart pounding against her rib cage, numerous of voices whispering in her head as a memory long ago buried bubbled to the surface.

 **###**

Fog curled around Takato's ankle as he looked over at Rika and Jeri, the former teasing the latter for her sudden hesitation when they were now so close to their destination.

"Come on Rika," he said, trying to defend Jeri. "You can't blame her for being a little bit nervous. I mean…this is Himuro Mansion. Just _look_ at the place."

In the darkness of the mist-filled night, the mansion of legends was difficult to see. The moon was a crescent against the black-filled sky, casting only just enough light to move about, but not enough to avoid getting lost or tripping over something if one wandered too far afield. The mansion itself appeared to be a fairly traditional Japanese building from a bygone era, complete with unique roofing style that always made Takato think of the scales on a dragon. Smaller details were impossible to see, but the shadows of the night spread across it like a spider's web, causing Takato to shiver slightly.

 _It's just the cold,_ he told himself, looking at the dew-covered grass.

"I don't know," chipped in Ayaka, who stood a short ways off next to Henry, arms folded over her chest. "I think I'm more in agreement with Rika there. Let's get a move on before the cold feet becomes literal."

For emphasis she shuddered, the cold washing over her and causing her skin to prickle and rise into goose bumps.

"How did you even find this place?" Kenta asked nervously, his flashlight shaking ever so slightly as he panned it across the path, lagging behind the group, jumping each time the leaves creaked or if he saw something moved.

"That's a secret," Jeri hummed, but not before taking a moment to pout at Rika, her cheeks puffing out irritably.

"I'm sure she found out about it while browsing at random," Ayaka said. "The school got some new computers after all and she's been spending a lot of her time there. Her dad won't let her have a computer of her own. Too much 'weird stuff,'" Ayaka raised her arms to do an air-quote, "online."

"Well, you're not exactly wrong," Henry admitted. He was online often doing research and browsing gaming forums in his spare time, so encountering the weirdness of the Internet was par the course for him.

"Of course she's not wrong," Takato grinned. "Digimon are online after all."

His grin slipped a little as he thought of their partners – gone for about a year now since the end of the battle with the malevolent entity known as the D-Reaper – and his promise to his partner to play with him again. A promise that, by the day, seemed less likely to be fulfilled.

He could still hear Guilmon's reminder to him echoing in his head.

Rika's eyes became downcast at that as she shoved her hands in her pockets and walked faster up the path, pushing her way up to the front.

She had to be dragged kicking and screaming to send a message to their partners, and while the loss of their partners seemed to hit all the Tamers hard, Rika seemed to take it the hardest to the point for a while, Digimon was practically a taboo subject with her.

Jeri specifically avoided mentioning Sakuyamon when convincing her to take on the role as an exorcist, stating that coming from an old family and living near a shrine, Rika probably knew the most when it came to prayers.

 _"That," Jeri said as she wrapped an arm around the other girl as she pulled her closer, gesturing to something only Jeri could see, "and you would look the best in a miko outfit."_

Rika squashed that idea quickly, although Jeri finally managed to wear her down to accepting the exorcist "position."

"I'll never understand why people hunt 'ghosts' at night though," Miki gasped as she took a break, hands on her knees on one of the stairs. "After all, paranoia is most rampant at night. People are just jumping at their own shadows - literally. Also wouldn't this have been safer to do during the day? And less likely to get us in trouble?"

"Getting scared?" Jeri teased her friend, pausing as they neared the top to wait for the official 'debunker' of the group.

"No." Miki protested. "I just think that going into a decayed building at night is a bad idea on record. Who knows if we might fall through the floorboards or get hurt. At least during the day we can see rotting wood easier."

"Ah, Miki, where's your sense of adventure?" Kazu grinned, brushing past her. "I mean, yeah, it would be easier to see that kind of stuff, but we're used to it." Pounding a fist on his chest, Kazu straightened his back, taking on a proud and mighty look that convinced no one. "We're Tamers. We don't walk away from danger!"

Takato and Henry exchanged amused glances that asked each other what the digital world was thinking making him a Tamer in the first place with an attitude like that.

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," Henry quoted, causing Takato to laugh. Kazu scowled at the duo.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" he asked. "And why're you laughing Chumley?"

"Just thinking about how you're a _really_ brave guy, Kazu," Takato remarked, picking up his pace so he could be closer to Rika. Kazu glared at his retreating back, but said nothing more, Rika's closer presence serving as a deterrent for the time being.

"That's one word for Kazu I suppose," Rika muttered under her breath as they finally reached the top, two sliding wooden doors blocking their path to the inside. However, they seemed to rattle in the wind, almost as if they were afraid of what they kept hidden behind them.

"So...uh… Here we are," Takato said hesitantly. This was it. They were going to go into a place reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of one of the worst murders in the area. "This is it. Last chance for anyone who wants off the ride."

"You getting cold feet too, Chumley?" Kazu smirked.

"No." Takato glared at him angrily. "It's just a good idea to bring it up. You know, so no one feels forced into it or anything. This could be serious after all."

"I bet Miki would like to stick it out," Kazu chided. "No offense. You might like to fight, but this is a whole new different terrain. You can't beat up ghosts after all."

"Please, the only thing we need to worry about is becoming ghosts ourselves when our parents find out that we snuck out," Miki scoffed, the last one up the stairs.

"Well, if everyone is on board, let's stop dawdling," Rika said as she grabbed the wooden doors and pulled at them, only for them to rattle, but refuse to move. Narrowing her eyes, she took a step back and swept the area with her flashlight, trying to find what the problem was.

"I think the wood is swollen," Jeri commented as she bent down, inspecting the floorboards before turning to the boys of the party. "You guys want to help?"

Takato and Henry stepped forward and took either side of the doors.

"On three," he said, looking at Henry and Rika. "Ready?"

Both of the other two nodded, grasping the wood tighter, ready to pull on Takato's count down.

"One…" Takato braced himself. "Two… _Three!"_

They pulled on the doors, and this time got results, the doors bursting open with a loud, creaking noise. Takato staggered back, taken by surprise and fell onto his rear. The smell of wet decay rushed out of the mansion, causing him to cover his mouth and gag slightly.

"Well… We've got it open," he said after a moment.

"Yay us," Rika said sarcastically as she covered her nose and mouth, bringing the yellow bandana she always seemed to wear around her neck up to keep out the rancid smells.

Jeri was the first one to take a step forward into the abandoned shrine, her flashlight swinging around the decrepit building as he brown eyes searched for any signs of life - or afterlife - frowning in disappointment when nothing immediately jumped out.

The inside looked like a regular shinto shrine, with bare wooden floors, with what seemed to be an altar at the end of the room. The windows on either side of the room were long broken, and glimmer of glass catching the light as she swept the floor. Just past the altar was two entryways which lead to the rest of the shrine. Jeri wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but found herself completely underwhelmed all the same.

"It looks like it was frozen in time," Kenta remarked, peeking inside tentatively, his shirt raised to protect him from the smell.

"In what way?" Rika snorted as she walked into the building, moving slowly, testing her weight on the floorboards before moving forward. "This thing is run down as it gets. Miki's right in saying we have to worry more about the structure of the building than anything that may be in here."

"Still…" Kazu grinned nastily, sweeping his flashlight up to his face, "no reason to not have a little fun along the way."

Dancing a little, Kazu began to speak in a loud, spooky voice to the building. "We are the Digimon Tamers…" he called. "We're here to come and get you. Come out, come out, wherever you are, before Rika here loses her temper and burns the place down."

Takato stared at his friend with a deadpan expression. "Real...funny, Kazu," he sighed before looking over at Rika. "I swear, he followed me home one day and I haven't been able to get rid of him ever since."

"Hey!" exclaimed Kazu, indignantly.

"That certainly explains a lot," Rika smirked, slightly amused as she walked over to the altar, running a single finger down it, inspecting the dust before wiping it off on her jeans. Clapping her hands together, as if in prayer, she closed her eyes and began to murmur almost as if singing.

" _Spirits of purification_

 _created for order of and the mother_

 _that they inhabit the Sky,_

 _exactly as when_

 _The God Izanagi no Mikoto_

 _bathed in the narrow estuary_

 _of a covered river with trees_

 _permanently leafy, in the South region._

 _With all the respect from the depth of our hearts_

 _We ask that they hear us, such as the spirit that hears our_

 _intent, with sharpened ears, together with_

 _Spirits of the Sky and the Land,_

 _Take the badness, disasters and sins and purify all._

 _Miroku Oomikami_

 _You bless us and protect us_

 _Meishu Sama_

 _You bless us and protect us_

 _For expansion of our soul_

 _And the fulfillment of your will."_

Clapping her hands twice more, she opened her eyes and glanced back at Jeri with an almost bored expression.

"Well, since you are the lead investigator, what now?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Jeri put a finger to her lips, weighing her options. While they would cover more ground split up, they only had three cameras on them - Henry, Ayaka and Kenta being the designated cameramen due to the most trustworthy with the technology. However, there was a saying to not split the party, and she didn't exactly want to do that until they started to get some activity.

"Well I think we should get our equipment turned on first, and then start to explore the shrine, starting with the path on the left," Jeri said, placing her backpack on the ground and taking out her digital voice recorder. "Takato, Kazu, do you remember how to use the stuff I gave you?"

"Ah…" Pulling out an RCA recorder from his pocket, Takato began fiddling with it. "Maybe? Let's see… This? No… Yes…"

Kazu, impatient with his friend as he finished with his setup, went over to him and snatched it out of his hand.

"Hey!" Takato exclaimed, trying to get it back, only for Kazu to shove it back into his face.

"You suck at technology, Chumley," he grinned.

"Don't get cocky," Ayaka derided the visor-wearing boy as she withdrew her camera – a long, silver and blue, rectangular thing – and slid open the video device. "You're just handling amateur stuff."

Angling it around her, she got a good look at everyone. "Night vision's looking good. Everyone give me a nice ghosty, creepy smile… Kazu, you look like an evil green ogre."

"You _said_ ghosty, creepy smile," Kazu snorted, moving out of the camera's sight with an insulted look. "Why are you complaining about results?"

"Because you ruin everything, that's why," Ayaka smirked, tossing her head so her twin-tails bounced slightly in a haughty fashion.

"At least I can work flashlights okay," Takato chuckled, clicking his on and sweeping it across the room. Smiling, he brought the light on Rika. "That was a nice incantation, Rika. Where'd you learn to do something like that? I don't think I could remember something that long."

Rika shrugged slightly, her shoulders falling up and down as Kenta fiddled with his camera, his flashlight in his mouth as he tried to adjust the settings to the darkness.

"I dunno," she said. "Grandma has always been rather big on stuff like this. Plus I used to hang out at the nearby shrine a lot when I was younger and had nowhere else to go. I guess I just sort of picked it up without really thinking about it."

"And that's why you are our exorcist," Jeri grinned as she swept the flashlight around the room to see if everyone was ready, ignoring the fact Rika rolled her eyes and shook her head - Miki copying her almost perfectly.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Jeri asked finally, shining the light back at Kenta. "You need help there, Kenta?"

"I got it," Kenta said, slipping his hand into the strap as he swung the camera left and right. "It's not anything special like Ayaka's, but it'll do."

"All right," Ayaka smirked, zeroing in on Rika. "Fashion shoot time, Digimon Queen. Angry is a good look for you. That should keep the ghosts from messing with us."

"Oh please," Kazu snorted. "As long as you've got BlackWarKazumon here, _no_ ghost will bug us." Raising a hand, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Too bad we don't have Ryo though. Then we'd be extra protected."

"What'd you say?" Rika demanded, her eyes narrowing dangerously, cracking her knuckles as she took a menacing step forward.

Jeri sighed, amazed they didn't even start the investigation and already they needed to stop Rika from hitting Kazu.

Fortunately, Takato was on hand for his assigned job of keeping the two separate. Already he was stepping between Rika and Kazu, hands up in a placating gesture.

"Whoa! Hey, take it easy there, Rika!" Turning, he cast a quick glare at Kazu, ordering him to shut up before Rika clobbered him before returning his attention to the red-haired girl in front of him. "Come on. Kazu's just kidding…mostly. You know you shouldn't take him seriously, right?"

Rika scoffed, muttering darkly under her breath about how Kazu should just go ahead and marry Ryo if he loved him so much. However, she just folded her arms and looked away, sulking.

"Well, with that settled, we should go forward," Jeri said, thankful that Takato did his job admirably. With Kazu being the way he was ... and the one who would be goading on the ghosts, Rika would need to be around to make sure he didn't get possessed by an oni. And Takato needed to be there to make sure Kazu didn't follow the maiden of the shrine's fate, a la Rika.

 _Although I doubt she would need to perform the Strangling Ritual on him,_ Jeri thought darkly.

Walking past the altar, the others falling in step behind her, they found themselves in a long hallway, the floorboards creaking and groaning under weight which they hadn't had to support in a long time.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Miki asked, breaking the silence. "I did some research on this place, but it's been mostly an urban legend. Most of my information came from this game called Fatal Frame. The fact you were able to find this place is quite impressive."

She paused and swept her flashlight around almost bored. "I can see where the game developers took their creative licenses though in ways of architecture."

"There's definitely not much here," Henry agreed, turning his flashlight down one direction. He paused at a door and slid it open. "Not even furniture."

"It's not like ghosts need a chair you know," Kazu said, adding his flashlight to Henry's.

Takato frowned, joining them. "Yeah, but it's still kinda creepy. Makes it feel like we're in a tomb, you know?"

"Don't freak yourself out, Chumley," Kazu chided. "You know, I think I'm with Miki about this place. There's nothing here. Ghosts aren't real you know."

"We used to think that digimon weren't real."

A hurt expression crossed Kazu's face, but he forced himself to nod. "All right… Credit where credit is do…"

"If you guys are done being depressing, let's get a move on," Ayaka interrupted their musings. "We've still got a lot of house to explore. Now let's see…" Panning around, the copper-haired girl scowled as she caught sight of something in her camera. Some kind of movement? "Probably a trick of the light," she murmured, looking more fully in the direction she thought she saw it in. She was acutely aware of the darkness surrounding her, flashlights notwithstanding. "Either that or a dumb rat. I bet this place is crawling with them."

"What is it?" Jeri asked, turning her head to look at her friend, pausing as she did so. However, just as she asked that, she heard the creaking of the floorboards somewhere in the distance. Quickly swinging her flashlight forward, she raised her hand signaling for everybody to stop, putting a finger to her lips. "Did you guys hear that?" she whispered.

"Hear what?" Kenta asked, his voice cracking as he panned his camera around, his hand shaking as he inched closer to the group before hiding behind Kazu.

"I heard a noise," Jeri whispered.

"This place is old," Miki scoffed. "Old homes creak and groan all the time. Come on." Pushing forward, she took the lead of the group, pushing the door at the end of the hallway. Peeking her head in the door, she panned her flashlight left and right before turning back to the group. "Nobody's there, so come along."

Takato tilted his head and peered down the direction that Jeri and Ayaka had looked in. Making his way over to it, he hesitated, listening carefully. He heard nothing save for the sound of his breathing and the steps of his friends.

"Takato?" Henry's voice came, causing the boy to turn abruptly, startled.

"Ah...yeah?"

"Come on," Henry said, indicating the rest of the group. "We shouldn't get separated."

"Right," Takato nodded, breathing a heavy sigh. The darkness was messing with his head. There couldn't be anything around in this old place. Ghosts weren't real after all. On this, he disagreed with Jeri.

The next room was decorated with antiques which, once upon a time, might have been worth something. Rika took a step closer to a pair of masks sitting on a shelf. Rubbing a finger over them, they began to shine through the thick layer of dust.

"Rika, don't touch anything," Jeri hissed, causing the red-haired girl to remove her hand in surprise before looking back at Jeri.

"Relax," Rika said as she looked back at the mask. "Even if it is a Hannya mask, I doubt that a jealous demon is going to come out of the woodwork because I touched it." Running her finger once again across the mask, she frowned slightly at the color of it.

 _Red...a true demon, huh_ , she thought as she removed her hand as it went almost on instinct to touch the protection charm in her pocket that Jeri had forced on them during the train ride. Rika had scoffed at it at the time, only taking it because Jeri was so insistent, but now … Rika sighed. _They'd laugh at me if they knew I was nervous_.

"What do you suppose they used the masks for?" Henry asked, joining the red-haired girl alongside Takato.

"This is a hannya mask, a type of a Onryō mask. These masks are used for spirits of the dead who have regrets of some kind," Rika explained. "For hannya masks, they appear in different skin tones. This one represents true demons."

"Well that makes sense," Jeri said thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Considering the Strangling Ritual was to keep bad karma from emerging each December."

"That's pretty freaky," Takato observed as Kazu's flashlight joined them.

"Nuttier than a fruit bat, that's for sure," Kazu agreed with a nod of his head. Looking around, he spied a mirror at the other end of the room. Approaching it, he shone his flashlight on it, looking it over carefully. "Man… You'd think that you could see a ghost in one of these. A reflection is supposed to reveal the real nature of something supernatural."

Sighing, he turned away. "I dunno… This is getting kind of boring. I think only Kenta here is in need of a fresh change of pants. There's nothing here but creaky floors and mold."

"Hey!" Kenta protested.

"Well we've only been here for less than an hour," Miki pointed out before taking an almost baby-esque voice as she turned to look at Kazu. "Unless BlackWarKazumon is afraid."

As Miki goaded on Kazu, Jeri noticed Rika was acting rather peculiar, wandering away from the mask and the rest of the group, peeking into a nearby room. Frowning slightly, Jeri walked over and placed a hand on Rika's shoulder, causing the girl to glance at her before looking back into the small room which seemed to be some sort of storage area.

"What is it?" Jeri asked as Rika closed the door.

"Thought I saw something," Rika shrugged. "Nothing was there though. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Probably just a rat again," Ayaka suggested, panning around the room before settling on the mirror Kazu had been looking at. "I bet this place is just full of…"

Ayaka blinked as she saw something flash over the reflected wall behind Jeri - a shadow, large and solid that shouldn't have been there. Whirling about, her mouth opened to say something only to find…

...nothing.

"Ayaka?" Takato asked, tilting his head to one side at her. "Are you okay?"

"I...uh…" Lowering her camera, she began adjusting its settings. "Maybe nothing. I hope."

"Maybe we should go back," Kenta suggested, feeling a sense of unease steadily grow in his core. Especially with the growing sense of being watched. It felt like something else was in the room besides the eight children, and the spectacled boy felt they gained nothing by staying.

"And do what? Sit at the station for hours until the first train comes?" Rika scoffed as she moved over to the next room. "If we are here, we might as well stay for the entire-"

Her words suddenly stopped as her breath materialized in the air. While it was slightly chilly out, it was not cold enough for any of their breath's to become visible.

"Maybe there's a cold breeze?" Takato ventured, seeing the puff of air coming from Rika's mouth. He didn't sound the least bit convinced though and began to look around, as if half-expecting a monstrous ghost to appear at any moment.

So far though, nothing but shadows retreated from his flashlight. A flashlight that even now began to dim and flicker.

"Aw nuts," Takato moaned as his light went out.

"Sudden cold and drainage of electrical appliances is usually the signs of a ghost!" Jeri, unlike the others who were beginning to look rather uneasy, was chipper and excited. Rika's flashlight swung over to Takato, walking over to him as she rummaged in her pocket before pulling out two pen batteries.

"Here you go," she said as she pressed them into his hands. "I thought it would be good to bring extras. Glad I did."

"Kazu, see if you can get any of them to respond," Jeri said, as she turned to the visor-wearing boy excitedly before wheeling around to look at Rika. Now that there was some sort of activity going on, it seemed Jeri was excited to finally have a direction and take charge. "Rika you be on stand-by. Ayaka since you have the night vision camera, see if you can see anything hidden in the darkness of the room when Kazu is asking his questions, Kenta you tape Kazu, and Henry, you go between the others."

Placing one hand on his hip, Kazu took a look around, frowning at the shadow-filled corners of the room. "Man, first time I get to deal with the supernatural and they can't even put on a good show." Gathering himself, he raised his voice, speaking with all the disgust he could muster toward the supposed undead gathered in the house.

"So, you think you're such hot stuff going after Chumley, huh? Giving us the 'oogie-boogie' act by making his batteries go out? And that stuff with freezing Rika's breath? Come on… Where's the A-material? We've already faced an interdimensional monster that tried to destroy _two_ worlds and we handled stuff like that before breakfast. We don't even get _paid_ to do it either! I've got to say, this operation you guys have got going on is pretty outdated. It's no wonder this place is falling apart and covered with dust and mold. It's like you can't even afford decent cleaning from tourists anymore!"

Takato clicked his flashlight back on, beaming a smiling thanks at Rika. Kazu snorted.

"See?" he continued, thumbing over at the Goggle-wearing boy. "We've already beaten you at the battery game. How about you try something that _doesn't_ make us waste yen at the hardware store."

If the ghosts were offended at anything Kazu was shouting at them, they gave no sign, causing the boy to glower at cracked walls for a moment before turning back to the others.

"What do you figure? Not enough? Or should I start making fun of their mothers? That usually gets under Kenta's skin."

"That's odd," Jeri said, frowning in disappointment as Miki rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. She knew she was brought on board to debunk things, but part of her sort of hoped it would be at least a bit more interesting than _this_.

"I don't know what was so odd about it. There was just a cold wind and Takato didn't have fresh batteries. There is nothing supernatural about that," she scoffed. "Besides, even if there were ghosts, I doubt they would rise to Kazu's petty insults. Although if you want a 'reaction,' maybe you should just have Kazu keep talking. That would be enough to get on anybody's nerves."

"Should we really insult the ghosts though?" Kenta asked nervously, still refusing to stop taping Kazu just in case something did happen the second their guards were down. "I feel like that is a bad idea in general. I mean … this place is known for a genocide of an entire family if you don't count the messed up Shinto ritual."

"Relax," Rika said as she opened the door to the nearby door. "Oh hey, there is a bunch of kimonos over here. Check it out."

Ayaka swung her camera over to the kimonos hanging on racks. She grimaced at seeing the once fine-silk destroyed by the long years of exposure to the elements. "Still not seeing anything," she said. "Maybe we should have Kazu yell at them too. Maybe they'll try and strangle him."

"You're a real barrel of laughs, Ayaka," Kazu quipped, causing the girl to smirk.

"Still better than you," she replied. Takato laughed a little at that before the sound of wood grating on wood - so fine that he almost missed it - caught his attention. Turning, he saw a door standing slightly ajar. Curious, he headed over to it and peeked inside. Darkness stared back at him where his flashlight couldn't reach. Feeling a bit unsettled, he turned back toward the others and then cocked his head to one side, suddenly becoming confused.

 _One, two, three, four…_ he did a quick headcount and ran over the faces with his eyes. "Uh...where's Henry?" he asked, the door behind him grating lightly against the floor once more, sliding open just a hair.

"Huh, he isn't here?" Rika asked as she swung her flashlight back at Takato, before swinging it around the room, doing her own head count. Frowning she panned the flashlight around the room. "Did anybody see where he went?"

"No," Miki said as she cocked her eyebrow up. Out of all the people she expected to wander off, Henry was last on the list. "I mean he's been rather quiet, but, you know …" she frowned thoughtfully.

"Oh no, he's been spirited away, all because Kazu taunted the ghosts," Kenta moaned, crouching down on the floor looking like he might be sick. Miki looked sharply at Kenta, glaring.

"Don't be stupid. He's probably just in the other room," she snapped, pressing her lips tightly together. Still, despite everything, she couldn't shake the sense of unease.

"Hey guys, there is some blood on these kimonos!" Jeri called from the other side of the room. "Also what's this about Henry?"

"He's probably off taking a bathroom break or something," Kazu muttered, though he didn't sound very confident in that assertion. Looking at the closest shrouded corner, he glared at it. "That all you got?" he scoffed. "Henry could kick your butt blindfolded. What makes you think him disappearing is going to scare us?"

"We should go find him to make sure that he's all right," Takato said, turning around toward the door he thought he heard the noise from earlier. Grabbing hold of it, he wrenched it open so he could get a better look at what was inside and flicked his flashlight around the room. The scene was very much the same as the others had been - dark, rotting, and devoid of life.

"No Henry," he frowned, stepping back, his skin prickling from the cold air within.

"I'll go check the room we were in earlier. He couldn't have wandered far without any of us noticing," Miki said as she headed back to the previous rooms.

"Alone?" Jeri asked worriedly only for Miki to scoff.

"Relax, Jeri. Ghosts aren't real, and I'll yell if anything happens," she said as she stepped through the doorway, looking back. "Besides I'll be real quick, and it will be faster if we split up to look for him. We'll meet back here in 15 minutes. That should give us plenty of time since there is no way he could have gone far."

"She has a point," Rika agreed, walking down the length of the room, sweeping her flashlight lazily from side to side looking for the Chinese boy. "There's no way he could have gotten far."

Takato exchanged skeptical looks with Kenta, but tried to put on a brave face. In spite of things, he still didn't believe that ghosts haunted this place. An idea springing to mind, he turned to Ayaka.

"Hey Ayaka," he called. "Um...can you rewind that camera or something? Maybe that'll give us an idea where Henry went."

Ayaka blinked, somewhat surprised that the perpetually fumble-footed Gogglehead had thought of something that sounded rather intelligent for the situation. Doing as he suggested, she began to play back their investigation, choosing the most recent time stamp. _I did enough full-room shots so I should have something to go on…_

Ayaka frowned after seconds began to turn into minutes, and she went back further and further. "I'm sorry," she said finally with a shake of her head. "I don't have any frames of him taking off or even disappearing."

Takato pressed his lips into one thin line before looking at Kenta.

"What about you?" he asked the bespectacled boy. "Do you have anything?"

Kenta rewound the camera, looking through it for any signs of Henry leaving or disappearing. There was none. Chewing on his lip, he set it back to record and once again panned around the room.

"Nothing," he acknowledged. "This doesn't sit right with me. Henry isn't the type to just wander off without telling anybody. Rika and Kazu, yeah, they do that all the time. Henry has more sense than that."

Takato narrowed his eyes, plainly not liking this but not sure as to what to do at the moment.

 _This place is getting to me,_ he thought, looking at the shadows cast about the room. _Maybe this was a mistake after all. I mean, sure, it seemed fun on the outside...a little spookiness for getting ourselves scared silly, but…_ Takato shook his head. _No… That's not right. There's nothing in this place except us. I can't…_

Kazu's flashlight cast upon the mirror once more, and for a second Takato swore he saw someone standing in the room with them, a tall, man-sized shape, pale and thin, with black, empty eyes.

The second was gone as soon as it came, leaving nothing but himself and the others alone in the room. Takato shuddered.

"I'm going to go after Miki," he said, feeling restless. "The rest of you stay here in case one of them comes back."

"Should we really be splitting the party?" Kenta asked, his voice trembling. "Especially allowing everyone to split off one by one. I mean in horror movies, that's what get the kids killed. I think we should stay in groups."

"Well the horror movie part is dumb since ghosts don't exist and I doubt there is a serial killer just lurking around here - we would have heard screams and signs of struggles if anything happened," Rika pointed out as she returned to the others. "Still, Miki has been gone for quite a bit, and we haven't heard back from her, and there is something to sticking together, but remember the Digital World and how many times we got split up?" She scoffed at the memory. "If this is another repeat of that, some heads are going to roll. Also, forewarning, I will _not_ be left alone with just Kazu and Kenta again."

"I'd rather not get left alone with you too," Kazu griped. "How about one of you just call her on her cell phone? Maybe check up on her?"

"Why are you two bozos sounding so smart today?" Ayaka grumped, pulling out her cell phone and flicking through her address book and hitting the call button for Miki's number.

"Since when were we ever _not_ smart?" Kazu grunted.

"Do any of us even need to answer that question?" Ayaka asked sarcastically, waiting for Miki to pick up on the other end. After a moment, there was a click and her eyes lit up. "Hey Miki! Where…?"

The girl's expression changed rapidly as she heard a low, keening noise from the other end, so soft she could barely determine if it was the whisper of wind or a person crying.

"Miki…?" she asked, both confused and frightened.

The line went dead.

"Anything?" Takato asked, his worry increasing. In response, Ayaka redialed the number.

"Straight to voicemail," she replied a second later, her voice shaking a little.

The room was quiet as the remaining children looked uneasily at each other.

"What did I tell you?" Kenta whispered finally. "Split up and you start dropping like flies."

"Don't say that!" Jeri protested as she brought her hands closer to her chest, looking suddenly very small as she began to shake. "They're OK! They have to be..."

Rika frowned, a sense of forbearance roaring in her soul. Still, she didn't like the current attitude of the group, nor the sense of helplessness which had taken hold.

 _We make our own destinies, right Renamon?_

Taking out her own phone, she turned to Ayaka.

"Give me your number," she told her bluntly. "I'll go with Takato to see what happened. You continue to search for Henry over here. We'll text each other every five minutes with any updates and our location, OK?"

"I'll come with you two!," Jeri said suddenly, causing Rika to look at her in surprise. Suddenly self-conscious, Jeri looked down on the ground, kicking the old wood with the toe of her sneaker. "After all they are lost because of me..."

"It's _not_ because of you," Takato said, walking over to Jeri, his eyes full of warm concern for the brown-haired girl. He felt a flash of fear as he thought back to some of the things she told him...things she said about herself when she was imprisoned by the D-Reaper.

" _It's all because of me… My fault…"_

"Don't say that about yourself. We'll pull through. I'm sure Henry and Miki are fine. They're good at taking care of themselves. All we have to do is find them and make sure that they're all right...kind of because this place is a little spooky and we're probably in a bad reception area." He chuckled lightly. "We just need a little reassurance, that's all."

Jeri nodded her head, still looking unsure but smile at Takato warmly, however her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Right ... thanks ..." she said as she wrung her hands fretfully.

"Well, if you are going with them, you should probably take my camera," Kenta said slowly. After all, they had Miki's camera just in case, which honestly, was much better than his mother's video camera by far. Walking over to Jeri, he put it in her hands gently. "Just take care of it ... my parents will kill me if it broke."

"I will," Jeri promised, smiling slightly at Kenta.

"Guess that makes you the new exorcist," Rika remarked dryly, after exchanging numbers with Ayaka. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out some of the sutras that Jeri had given her earlier. "You can have these, just in case. Ah, Takato lend me some paper and a pencil real quick. I'll write down some easy chants. Better safe than sorry ..."

"Sure," Takato said, digging out the notepad and pen he always kept with him and handing them to Rika.

"Man, depending on Kenta to save our butts if a ghost jumps out at us? That's crazier than a fruitbat, Rika," Kazu remarked, folding his arms behind his head. "But that's kinda how we normally do things around here anyway." He glanced at Kenta. "Better lend me some of those, just in case."

Ayaka scowled at Kazu. "Do you _ever_ not put him down?"

Kazu raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure I do. I just don't want praise to go to his head."

Ignoring them, Takato looked down the hallway, half-hoping to see Henry and Miki returning. No such luck however and he sighed inwardly.

"As soon as everyone's ready, we're moving out," he said.

Rika quickly jotted down the prayers, writing as neatly as possible and making sure Kenta could not only read her handwriting but say the chants as well. After a couple of practice runs before Rika felt comfortable, she, Takato and Jeri were on their way, leaving behind Kazu, Kenta and Ayaka.

"I hope that they'll be okay," Takato said quietly, looking over his shoulder at the second group. He hated splitting the group like this, but was there really a better option?

 _What am I talking about? There's nothing to worry about after all…_

"I'm honestly more worried about Ayaka's sanity, speaking from experience," Rika grimaced as they walked down the hallway which seemed a lot longer than it did about 15 minutes ago.

She also worried about them getting into unnecessary trouble because Kazu and Kenta seemed to lack the distinct ability to listen to plain instructions like "stay here" or "wait," instead jumping at every imagined shadow.

While that was in the Digital World, where the danger was more real and present than it was currently, she doubted it would be any better for Ayaka.

 _Somehow I think it might be worse,_ she mused, her brow furrowing slightly as her flashlight swung to look outside through the small slits in the window, pausing slightly when she thought she saw something move. However, as her light trained on the spot, it was clear nothing was there.

"It is kind of spooky how long this hallway is," Takato noted. "It's kind of like that creepy tunnel we kept ending up in. Guilmon always said that it seemed like every time we wound up there something bad happened."

"Well he wasn't _wrong_ ," Rika pointed out as they stepped back into the room they first entered in. However, it seemed neither Miki nor Henry was there. However, just because they _weren't_ didn't mean something of theirs _wasn't_.

"Hey, that's…" Jeri said as she lowered the video camera, pointing her flashlight at something near the altar illuminating a cell phone, laying open with the black screen facing the sky almost as if it was dropped in a hurry.

Hurrying over to the dropped phone, Takato bent down and picked it up, turning it over in his hand as if it held some clue for them that could determine the fate of its owner.

"Well...it's definitely Miki's," he said, getting back up to his feet and presenting the phone to the two girls. "She should be nearby since she dropped this."

Turning, he cast his flashlight around. Thinking about it for a moment, he looked down at the floor, looking to see if the floor held any disturbed dust that they could track.

"I hope she's OK," Jeri fretted as she took the phone, Rika being too busy texting Ayaka. Opening Miki's phone, she went through it to see if she could find anything which might offer a clue to what happened to her. A saved text draft perhaps. A photo. A video.

However, there was nothing.

"Well, there was only two places she could have gone," Rika said as she placed her own phone back in her pocket. "Outside and through that other corridor. I doubt she went outside, so that only leaves path number two."

"Wait, why couldn't she have gone outside?" Takato asked. "Maybe Henry did the same thing. I mean, it _is_ kind of musty in here."

"Do you _really_ think Henry would have walked outside without letting _any_ of us know?" Rika asked, raising a brow. "I mean it's hard enough to believe he simply wandered away without telling us, but think about it, he would know we would assume him to stay in the building."

"Okay, yeah, that's a good point, but that doesn't mean Miki didn't go outside to go check. If she couldn't find Henry inside, that's the only place left to look." Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't mean we should just look out there first or anything. I'm just saying we shouldn't ignore any options."

"Well if we can't find either of them inside, we'll look outside. I _highly_ doubt either of them are outside though," Rika said as she moved toward the second hallway, which looked eerily similar to the first only to pause at the end. "Hey!"

Without so much of a warning, the red-haired girl started to sprint down the hall.

"What the…?" began Takato, exchanging looks with Jeri before starting after Rika. "Hey! What's going on? Rika! Did you see something? Wait up!"

When they finally caught up with Rika, she was standing at the end of the hall looking through an open door, seeming to be very perplexed.

"What was that all about?" Jeri asked, taking a moment to catch her breath as she used her camera to look inside the new room. While she didn't see any signs of Miki or Henry, she did see a small hearth. It could have been where the family ate dinner in the past or spent time as a family.

"I thought I saw somebody, but they disappeared," Rika said, exploring the room with her flashlight.

"Are you sure?" Takato asked, coming up behind her and taking a look around. "I mean, the way it's so dark in here it's kind of hard to tell half the time. Besides, if it was someone, wouldn't they be carrying a flashlight or something?"

He glanced around him. The room was so deathly quiet and empty it might as well be its own tomb. More and more he was becoming unsettled by the barrenness of the building. At this point, finding real ghosts was starting to look more appealing, if only so there would be _some_ sign of life in this abandoned building.

"Maybe there's a secret passage someone could have slipped through?" he asked fruitlessly, considering the hearth for a moment.

"I will turn them into ghosts if they went through a secret passage," Rika grumbled, although the suggestion almost seemed to _lift_ Jeri's spirits at the mere thought of such a thing existing. Quickly crossing the room, she began to explore the fireplace, looking for anything which could lead to a secret room. However, she paused suddenly when she felt something which she could only describe as a hand brush against her bum.

She froze like a deer in headlights. The only other two in the room were Takato and Rika, and neither of them in her mind was really the type to do such a thing. Takato of course being much too respectful - if not skittish - to do that, and Rika just not being the type to touch others unless it was some sort of form of affection such as a pat or a hug.

Turning her head slowly, her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach to see an older man with skin sagging downward and sunken eye grinning lecherously at her.

An ear-splitting scream quickly alerted the other two to her dilemma.

Takato's eyes widened at Jeri's scream. One second, she was in the room, by herself, and in the next, he saw a dark shape looming over her, changing into something vaguely human-shaped that reached out and... _touched_ her. The way Jeri froze at the contact… The sudden appearance of the figure and its threatening stance over her… It struck a chord in him.

As Jeri screamed, that chord snapped.

" _Get away from her!"_ he shouted, his flashlight hurtling end over end at the figure as he quickly launched himself after it, fist drawn back. With fluid-like grace, the figure twisted out of the way, the flashlight smashing into the hearth and bouncing off, sending light flashing randomly around the room as Takato put himself protectively in front of Jeri.

"Celestial fighters, all arrange yourselves in front of me. Proceed!" Rika's words - cold and dripping in venom - were punctuated with a sharp movement of nine cuts with her index and middle fingers. The man looked at her, almost as if in surprise, as he disappeared as if he was never there to begin with.

"That was…" Jeri whispered, her voice cracking from the shock and fear, unsure how to put into words what just happened.

"Jeri! Are you alright?" Takato asked, raising a hand toward her, only to hesitate, as if afraid that by touching her he would only make things worse than they already were.

"Thanks to you two," Jeri said as she took it, not letting go of Takato's hand even after he helped her to her feet. Instead she opted to move closer to the boy as she looked nervously around the room as if something else would pop out of the woodwork - literally.

"I guess the living isn't that much different from the dead in some regards," Rika said darkly as she walked over to join the other two, picking up Takato's fallen flashlight and holding it out to the boy. "Too bad the pervert got away before Takato could punch his lights out though."

Takato swallowed nervously, feeling Jeri's hand trembling inside his own. _She's so scared,_ he thought, thinking of how small her hand felt to him. How...fragile. _Will I be able to protect her the next time something like that happens?_ he wondered. His grip tightened slightly. _I'll have to try, for her sake._

"We've got to hurry up and find the others," he said, stepping back from Jeri while still holding her hand. "The sooner we do this the better."

"Well I'm going to hit Henry at least when I see him for wandering off on his own," Rika grumbled, this time taking the lead, although she was much more vigilant now with Jeri's little … run in with an actual ghost. Her flashlight swept out in front of them slowly, and her other hand was close to her chest, her index and middle finger raised in case she needed to do the chant again.

Suddenly she paused for a moment and turned to look at Jeri and Takato, shining the lights in their faces.

"What I just did was the Nine Syllable Cuts," she explained. "It can be used for a variety of things, but if you cut like this-" she paused and slowly showed them her movements, "and say 'Celestial fighters, all arrange yourselves in front of me. Proceed!', you should be able to chase away some lower level spirits, alright?"

"Thanks Rika," Takato nodded before looking around them. "I'm...not sure if there's anything left to do here. Maybe we should check in with the others and see how they're doing before looking further."

"Oh right," Rika said as she pulled out her phone and quickly texted Ayaka. Barely a second went by as Ayaka responded and Rika's eyebrows shot up. "Looks like they encountered some spirits too. Kenta managed to chase it away too … not going to lie, I'm sort of impressed."

"So this place really is haunted," Jeri said softly, for once not looking as thrilled as she might have been. After all, two of their friends were missing and despite what Takato said, she did feel it was her fault. Neither of them would have been here in the first place if she didn't insist them come check it out.

 _What sort of friend am I to put them in danger like this?_ she thought miserably.

As if sensing her distress, Takato gave Jeri's hand a comforting squeeze. "I knew Kenta would come through," he nodded, his spirits lifting a little now. "All right. Let's go check out the next room. Maybe our luck will be better from here on out."

Despite Takato's optimistic outlook, their luck was not better in the next room or in the one after that. In fact, it seemed to get steadily worse as the spirits, almost as if they were playing with the three children began to make themselves more known. Even as one was chased away, two more took their place.

It was like the mansion was indeed alive, but nothing _living_ was inside it's walls. The further inside they got, they found neither Henry or Miki but instead victims and physical hints of scene whispered about in legends. Blood spray stained the walls, as if they were thrown there by the a sword, and men and women of various ages begged the children to save them, others warning in broken, fearful whispers to escape while they still could and one small child, no older than five, told them in no uncertain terms they "were going to die if the master found you."

Takato's optimistic outlook was rapidly becoming one of internal desperation while outwardly became a mask, and a pale one at that as the legion of whispers could be heard coming from the walls. Here and there, tattered wallpaper flexed, as if something moved beneath its surface.

Takato didn't want to look closely when it did. He didn't want to guess at what might lurk beneath the surface.

They needed a victory somewhere. They needed one _fast._

"Our digivices!" he finally exclaimed, inspiration hitting him. Pulling his out, an arc-shaped device with a gold ring around its central screen, symbols of digi-code engraved in its surface, he activated the compass function, the holographic circle rising above the screen, its arrow swinging wildly. "We can at least find Henry with this! Oh man, why didn't we think of this before? We could have found him by now if we did!"

"First off, I think you are the only one who still carries their D-arc around with them," Rika said dryly, her face becoming an impassive mask as they moved deeper into the mansion. "Second, D-arcs can't locate other D-arcs. They can only do that for wild Digimon, and we all know there is no Digimon here. There hasn't been for the past year."

Takato's shoulders sagged, realizing that Rika was right. Clenching his digivice tightly in his hand - half to resist the desire to simply throw it against the wall in frustration - he pocketed it.

"All right," he admitted. "Bad idea. I guess...I'm just not sure what to do. This place just keeps going on and on like one big maze and it feels like we're just getting further and further away from the others. I mean, I know that that's exactly what we're doing but…" Takato paused. "I don't remember this place looking so _big_ on the outside. And… Jeez. What time is it? How long have we been here?"

Rika glanced at her phone.

"An hour and a half now," she said before furrowing her brow almost thoughtfully. She quickly scrolled through some old messages before looking around, frowning slightly. "Wait … this room … the others were in here from Ayaka's text message 10 minutes ago. Hang on let me see if I can call her to see what's going on … no house is this big."

Pressing dial on her phone, she held the phone up to her ear, glaring at a ghost who floated by, _daring_ it to piss her off even more than she was. The phone just rang … and rang … and rang before she got voicemail. Removing her phone slowly from her head, she looked at it in slight disbelief before pressing redial. It rang before going straight to voicemail once again.

"I don't believe this," Rika said almost quietly, her face becoming pale as she quickly looked at the last text she received from Ayaka before wheeling on the ghost who was watching them quietly. "You!" she growled. "Which way is it to the doll room!"

Clearly surprised as Takato and Jeri was, the hunched over woman raised a knobbly finger pointing to the right.

"Thanks grandma!" Rika said, ignoring the woman's insulted look as she turned to Jeri and Takato - Jeri pointing to Rika as she looked at Takato, silently asking if he too saw their friend _asking a ghost for directions_. "Come on. They aren't answering."

"Wait, Rika! Hold on!" Takato said just as Rika began to head down the hall. "We really need to think about this for a second." Taking a deep breath, he resumed. "Rika, we're getting picked off one by one. It's like something out of a horror movie and if this keeps up no one is going to know what happened. Our parents don't even know _where_ we are and I don't think Kenta left a message for his mom again."

"Are you saying we are going to abandon our friends?!" Rika asked incredulously.

"No!" Takato exclaimed before taking another calming breath. "Though you're still going to hate me for suggesting this anyway… Rika, I want you to take Jeri and leave. I'll go find the others."

"Takato if anybody is taking Jeri and leaving it's going to be you," Rika replied, crossing her arms defiantly. "I mean look at the facts. I was brought on as an 'exorcist' and I know the most about Shinto chants and rituals. No offense Gogglehead, but I can last here _way_ longer than you can."

"I'm not leaving, Rika," Takato replied, narrowing his eyes. "But we can't all just stay here and not let anyone know what's going on. You're also the best one to protect Jeri. You've shown me some stuff. As long as I have the charms and that, I should be able to manage."

His expression softened as he looked at Rika's eyes. "Please," he pleaded.

"A Tamer doesn't run from trouble," Rika said, her defiant expression not wavering in the slightest. Jeri gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes closed.

 _All of this is happening because of me,_ she thought, frustrated once again by her inability to do _anything_ about the situation. She didn't want Takato or Rika to stay while she got away to safety. She agreed with Rika in that she couldn't just leave her friends behind, but she also knew Takato was right in letting _somebody_ know where they were.

"Stop fighting you two," she butted in as she took Miki's phone out with a shaking hand. Flipping it open, she slowly dialed her home, holding her breath as it rang. After a minute, she heard her father's tired voice on the phone.

" _Hello?"_

"Papa, it's me," she said, licking her lips, not looking at Takato and Rika - unable to meet their gaze.

" _Jeri?!_ " Her father's voice suddenly became more alert, and she winced in shame and embarrassment. After all this was all over, she knew they would be grounded for a month - if they were lucky - for sneaking out. " _Where are you?! What are you doing? What's going on!"_

 _But better be home and grounded than to be simply be gone_ , she thought, desperately hoping they would be able to find their friends in the meantime.

"Papa, I'm really sorry … but we snuck out. I'm here with Rika and Takato, so I'm OK, but some other things happened … and we got separated from Henry, Miki, Ayaka, Kazu and Kenta," she said quickly. She could hear her father starting to demand where she was, so she cut him off. "We're at the Himuro Mansion," she said before giving a quick series of directions, being sure to enunciate clearly so she could be understood before hanging up the phone with one last, "Sorry."

"There," she said with a sigh, finally looking up. "Now they know where we are and nobody has to leave anybody. The reason we're in this mess to begin with is because of me - and before you two say otherwise, _yes it is_. It was my idea and my plan. I'm not going to let _either_ of you stay behind to clean up _my_ mess."

She smiled wanly at them.

"Besides, Leomon told me to have a lion's heart. I can't do that if you two are always protecting me all the time."

"Jeri…" Takato began, grimacing. _I wanted to keep you safe, but...I guess I can't do that. Great. Another thing I'm not good at doing._

He didn't voice his fears - the fear that had been simmering just under the surface ever since they defeated the malevolent entity known as the D-Reaper all those months ago. To do so now wouldn't help them find their friends, yet he couldn't help himself. What happened to Jeri then... _had_ been his fault. He hadn't stopped Beelzemon from killing her partner, Leomon, and he didn't help her when she was spiraling into depression, leaving her vulnerable to the D-Reaper once it surfaced. Back when they were first preparing to go to the digital world, he hadn't thought for a second that perhaps, just perhaps, Jeri should stay behind and protect the city, as going to the digital world required the most experienced of the Tamers.

He hadn't thought smart at all. All he could think of was how great it was Jeri was a Tamer - that they had something to share together.

 _I was selfish, and Jeri paid for it,_ he thought, his hands tightening into fists. _Leomon paid for it._

He ruthlessly squashed the thoughts - for now. They wouldn't help him in saving their friends. Jeri was staying regardless of what he felt. They couldn't afford to waste time.

"All right," he began. "Where do we go now?"

"We should go to where we last knew where Ayaka and the others were," Jeri said, taking a deep breath as once again she took the lead in this investigation. She got them into this mess, and she would get them out. She had to show she was just as competent as her two remaining friends.

While she appreciated them looking out for her, and their general protective nature, she wouldn't be able to rely on them forever. Couldn't rely on them forever.

"Alright," Rika said, the hardness of her eyes had evaporated in shock of Jeri's actions, and was replaced by a small smile. "You're the boss. We'll follow your lead."

Jeri nodded her head awkwardly as she gripped Kenta's camera tighter as they started to make their way toward the doll room, and Jeri hoped that the direction the ghost lady gave wasn't leading them into a trap.

 _I don't understand though,_ Jeri mused as she worried her bottom lip. _The spirits we've encountered so far aren't really malicious ... just in pain. What could be spiriting away everybody?_

They made their way through the hallway, Takato casting about with his flashlight and keeping an eye on their…'companions' - the ghosts that continued to haunt the halls, eyes and eyeless alike following them with their gaze.

 _Even though we're being quiet,_ _we sound really loud in this place,_ he noted, hearing the echoes of their footfalls. He didn't remember them being so loud when they first came in here. He wondered if that meant they were getting closer to the source of whatever was behind this place. Some...greater _monster_ who controlled events.

He blinked, realizing that as they went on, the numbers of ghosts began to recede.

 _Maybe there's something to that then?_ he wondered, and he relayed that thought to the others.

"I hope not," Jeri fretted, suddenly becoming scared. Not for herself - no - but for the others. They didn't know what happened to them, and with the rumors surrounding this place ...

 _Maybe there was no address given for a reason,_ she thought, licking her lips nervously.

"Well, I doubt it will be anything we can't handle," Rika said, although Jeri noticed that she had taken the remaining sutras out of her pocket and was flattening them out.

 _She's afraid,_ Jeri thought, and suddenly the gravity of the situation fell on her shoulders like a pile of bricks. After all ... there was only one time Jeri could ever remember her friend showing any sign of fear.

 _That's when Beelzemon was torturing Kyubimon before he killed Leomon,_ she remembered. _We're ... really in a hopeless situation, aren't we?_

However, she couldn't let herself dwell on it. She had decided she would make her own fate, she would make Leomon proud. So, bracing herself, she opened the final door.

Despite three flashlights crawling around the room, there was nothing to spot at first. There was just rows and rows of dolls on a table.

That's when Rika noticed a small red light at the other end of the room. Gesturing for the other two to follow her, they approached it only to find the tape recorder that Kazu had from earlier.

It was still recording.

"Play it back," Jeri said, her voice barely louder than a whisper as Rika stopped the recording device, 1:49:57 flashing back at them. "Fast forward to about ... 1:35:00. Maybe ... there's something on there."

" _Man, this place sucks,"_ came Kazu's voice from the recording as Rika started it again. " _Henry, you better have just gone on a really long bathroom break!"_ he shouted all of a sudden. After a moment, there was a _tsk_ , followed by Ayaka's voice.

" _Do you_ have _to keep talking?"_

" _Henry and Miki have got to hear us,"_ Kazu replied, no less annoyed than she was. " _The more I talk, the more likely they'll be able to zero in on us, duh."_

" _I'm starting to think you're just scaring them off…"_

Suddenly there seemed to be some sort of muffled _thump_ , quickly followed by Kenta's, " _Did you hear that?_ "

" _There's a_ lot _of things to hear, Kenta,"_ Kazu's voice replied. " _Although I could do without hearing Ayaka…"_

" _Hey!"_ exclaimed the girl irritably. " _Hear what, Kenta?"_ she asked, her voice raw with tension, but clearly more appreciable toward the bespectacled boy, if only due to his _not_ being Kazu. " _Was it…"_

Another noise - a _thump -_ this time louder; closer.

" _Dude, why are you so quiet_ now?" Kazu asked. " _We're in an old…"_

" _Shhh!"_ Ayaka shushed, and in his mind's eye, Takato could imagine her waving her hand sharply at him, punctuating her noise. " _There! Do you hear it?"_

Another thump, _much_ louder than before, followed by something else. Something buried underneath it. A low...moaning sound, and a noise that reminded Takato of dead leaves and branches being crunched underfoot.

" _It sounded like it came from this way…"_ Ayaka continued, and there came the creak of floorboards - someone moving, most likely Ayaka. " _I think…"_

There came a scream and a sudden commotion as Kazu shouted, " _It's got her! Hang on! I'm…"_

Then...nothing.

The rest of the recording was nothing but silence until the very end five minutes later when the three entered the room.

Rika's face was pale and her hand was shaking ever so slightly as she gripped the sutras tighter.

"Why didn't Kenta …" she mumbled as Jeri held her mouth, her face completely white as if she was stifling a scream. Tears burned in her eyes, and she hurriedly wiped them away before Takato or Rika could comment on it, or worse, decide she needed to leave, _again_.

"They … couldn't have gotten far," Jeri whispered, trying to convince herself more than the others. "They have to be nearby. They _need_ to be."

"They are," Takato nodded in determination. His heart pounded in his chest at a rapid pace, making his body feel at once simultaneously hot and cold, but this was something he was quite familiar with. Keeping a firm hold on his emotions, strained as they were, he moved toward the closest door, bypassing the dolls completely. "We'll find them," he continued quietly, taking hold of the doorknob. It felt cold like ice against his touch, and a thin film of dust clung to his hand. No one had used this door a part of him said.

Another part however told him that, regardless, until they found the others, _every_ part of this building had to be searched, from the very top to the bottom, no matter where that led.

Even if that meant Enma's hell itself.

A low _thump_ from behind him stopped him from turning the knob. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that one of the dolls had fallen over. He felt a chill run down his spine as he fixed it with a curious gaze.

The two girls looked at it as well, before glancing at each other. Jeri bent down tentatively and picked it up, placing it back on the table.

That's when a woman, who looked to be the same age as Rumiko, appeared. Like Rika's mother, she was very beautiful at first glance, wearing a beautiful flowing kimono. However, something about her sent chills to Rika's core, and pushing Jeri behind her, she raised her middle and index fingers.

"Celestial fighters, all arrange yourselves in front of me. Proceed!"

However, unlike the other countless times which the Nine Syllable Cut worked, the woman stayed in front of them. In fact as she moved closer, Rika could see rope burns on her wrists, ankles and neck. Taking a step back, she threw one of the sutras at the ghost.

Nothing.

Getting desperate, she decided if Shintoism wasn't working, perhaps going with another religion might.

"The power of Christ compels you!" she shouted, quoting one of the horror movies she watched with her grandmother so very long ago. However, it didn't work quite as well as it did for the exorcist in that movie and once again, did _nothing_.

"Oh kami," Jeri whispered as they took another step back. Without thinking, Rika grabbed Jeri's wrist. It was obvious the situation was hopeless, and there was only one course of action left.

"TAKATO OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" she yelled, swearing for the first time in her young life as she quickly sprinted away, dragging Jeri, from the figure which was rapidly approaching them. "NOW!"

Yanking the door open at her order, Takato stood aside to allow them to go through before quickly following suit. As though it had a mind of its own however, the door swung heavily on him, slamming against his ankle before it could even clear the threshold, causing him to yell in surprise as pain flared - bright and hot - through his leg.

 _Don't think, just move…_ he told himself, pushing the heavy haze of pain away as he lurched after the girls. He threw a look over his shoulder again, spying the woman peeking through the crack in the door, unclosed from his accident. She stepped forward, the door proving to be no hinderance to her, as he should have expected, and Takato cursed silently under his breath.

"We're in trouble!" he announced. "She's still after us!"

Rika swore again as she glanced behind, throwing open another door, pushing Jeri through before telling Takato to take the girl and keep moving. Her mind - normally calm in situations such as this - was blank.

Fumbling with the sutra, she slammed one of the remaining ones on the door, trying to recall _something_ , _anything_ which could help give it more power. Nothing came to mind however until …

"River of chaos, oh red sea of destruction, follow now my voice and feel the twin blades of beauty and of truth. Then fall before my light!" Pulling her hand, she clenched it to keep it from shaking. Taking one, then two steps back, she sprinted away as the door began to rattle, a slow rip in the sutra making it clear that just like the chaos … this force would not be contained for too long.

Their feet pounded on the floor as they continued to race away, Takato grimacing as each impact jarred his injured ankle. Grinding his teeth together, he continued to ignore it.

 _We've got to do something! There's got to be_ some _way that we can fight back! But...how? Rika…_

Takato blinked as he began to notice something - a creeping fog rising from the floor and surrounding them. A second later, his digivice began to shriek in alarm, echoing Takato's sudden, dawning horror.

"Oh no…! Not _now! Rika!_ We have a digital field here! Something's bio-emerging!"

"That's impossible!" Rika yelled, but her eyes squinting as she brought her arm up to shield them from the bright light. "There's a firewall! There should be a firewall!" There was a pause and then, " _I swear to god Takato if you broke it again_ -"

Before Rika could finish or Takato could reply, the fog exploded, shattering the floor and sending splinters of wood flying around them. Takato found himself collapsing from the blast, his ankle pulsing in pain.

 _Don't think… Move! Move you...Gogglehead!_

"Jeri! Rika!" Forcing himself up, he looked around him blearily, the fog settling around them heavily. "Are you guys okay?!"

In the depths of the fog, he saw a figure appear, but whoever it was, he couldn't tell for certain. It was either one of his friends...or the ghost, finally catching up to them.

"Jeri?" he said again, his voice lower. "Rika?"

" _Hello,"_ spoke the figure in a voice that sounded like a blend of thousands of voices - a _legion._ " _You appear to be in trouble. I can help you."_

 _Help?_ Takato's mind whirled at this. This...whoever it was wanted to _help_ them? "Are you...from the digital world?" he asked. Mentally he kicked himself for asking such a question. He could just hear Rika berating him for it, reminding him that this figure - whoever or _whatever_ it was could easily lie to him.

" _Does it matter?"_ it asked, its voice starting to decline in number, its tone becoming more readily recognizable. He associated it with his parents and his friends - signaling strength and trust. Some part of him felt that it was almost...built specifically with him in mind.

That however was ridiculous.

" _I can help you,"_ it said, approaching him, holding out its hand. " _I have analyzed the memories of this place. I can show you where you need to go."_

"My friends!" Takato got to his feet, his ankle nearly giving out on him again. "I can't leave without them!"

" _I...see."_ It tilted its head to one side, and Takato could see, with the fog clearing a little, obsidian eyes staring back at him in the light from his flashlight. " _Found them. I can take you to them."_

"Rika! Jeri!" Takato shouted, grateful for there to be _something_ appearing to be working right for the evening.

"We're fine!" Jeri's voice broke through the fog, and the two girls appeared, Jeri acting as a crutch for Rika who seemed to have taken damage from the blast as blood dripped down her leg from an rip in her jeans. Not that Jeri escaped unscathed either - it seemed a stray piece of wood hit her in the forehead, causing blood to mix with dirt and grime.

However, neither seemed to be really registering their injuries, Rika's face gritting with a fierce sort of determination despite her new limp and Jeri's eyes shining with a sort of _defiance_ as if she wouldn't cow even with everything literally blowing up around them.

Takato looked worriedly at the two girls, particularly Rika with how she was limping. The blood coming from her leg worrying him, he immediately took hold of his hoodie and pulled it off. "Rika, we...we need to get that looked at. How bad…?"

"I'm fine," she gritted. "It's just a scratch."

"I don't think she sprained her ankle or anything, but … I'm no doctor," Jeri answered, looking at her friend fretfully before looking back at where they last saw the ghost. That's when her eyes glanced behind Takato to see a figure she hadn't seen before.

Unlike the other ghosts in the mansion, this one seemed … almost modern, if not _living_ with how _solid_ it was. In addition to dark obsidian eyes, it had short black hair and was wearing gender neutral clothing. Jeri couldn't tell if it was a male or female.

"Takato…" she whispered, looking at it fearfully. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Takato said, tearing off a sleeve to his hoodie with a grunt. "I think it came from the digital world. Either way, it says it can help us find the others." He passed his torn sleeve to Rika. "Here, tie this around where you're hurt. I don't know how badly you're bleeding, but we need to slow it down and keep dirt from getting into it. Jeri, how about you? Can I see where you're hurt?"

"It's just a little scratch," Jeri said as her fingers went up to the cut on her forehead instinctively as Rika took the sleeve with a thanks, although muttered under her breath sarcastically about ' _Tell slowing down to the psychopathic ghost chasing us_.'

"Rika got the worst of it, really," she added, glancing at Rika who was tying the sleeve tightly around her injured leg, glancing back at the door which seemed to be almost open, the sutra nearly ripped. "We should get moving … we can't afford to stay here."

The figure turned toward the direction of the door, obsidian eyes narrowing. " _Hmmm… A ghost. Primitive electromagnetic lifeform. Although a bit stronger than the norm. However…"_

Raising a hand, electricity sparked amidst the fog as the sutra tore finally and the door flew open. The ghostly woman took a step into the room, and the lightning arced up from the fog, slashing at her. Shrieking, the woman jerked backward, vanishing into thin air.

" _Hmmm…"_ the figure said, glancing at its hands. " _Stronger than I thought. She escaped."_

"Shit." Rika said, her eyes wide as Jeri clung to Rika in a mix of shock and fear at the fact this newcomer just created _lightning_.

"Wha … how … who …" Jeri whimpered as she clung to Rika tighter, not quite sure what to make of the sudden change of situation. Part of her felt like she shouldn't be afraid, but with her friends disappearing, being chased by a ghost and then this … this … _thing_ just generating lightning like it was nothing, she felt she would have to be a fool not to fear this.

 _This was a bad idea_ , she moaned in her head as Rika looked dumbly at the door. _How could I have been so stupid_.

"...So it said it can help us find our friends?" Rika asked finally, shocking Jeri.

"You're going to trust this thing?!" Jeri asked incredulously. Rika tended to be the most cynical person of the group, being the last to trust anything. While at times it was vexing, she was the _last_ person Jeri expected to just blindly trust a stranger.

"We don't have a choice, Jeri," Rika gritted as she closed her eyes. "We need to find our friends, and we sure haven't been succeeding on our own. All of us are injured and tired, and this thing managed to chase away a ghost which would probably have ended us all! Tell me, what else are we supposed to do!"

Takato was no less surprised than Jeri, having fully expected her to protest at the very idea of asking for help from a complete stranger in a house whose ghostly occupants were definitely trying to hurt them. Nonetheless, he had to agree with her logic. They really _were_ out of options.

"She's right," Takato said, turning toward the figure. "I guess...for good or bad...one way or another we have no choice but to see how this plays out and...hope that it's telling the truth."

Takato hated this. They were in, without a doubt, a bad place. It would be all too easy for someone or something to take advantage of their desperation.

"Rika?" he asked, wanting her opinion once more, just in case. "Are you _sure_ that we should do this?"

"No," Rika said bluntly. "We could be walking into a trap. We are between a rock and a hard place, and we have to just trust this - I don't even know what it is because humans can't shoot electricity, newsflash - but we have to put our _fate_ into someone else's hands."

"So-" Jeri started, a chill going through her spine at the way Rika used the word _fate_ , but her friend interrupted her.

"But like I said, _we don't have a choice_. We're now playing a game of Russian Roulette. We've had no luck on our own. If we run into that thing again, we're defenseless. Our best bet, logically, is to put the gun to our heads and pull the trigger and hope there is no bullet in that barrel," she finished.

"Jeez, Rika…" breathed Takato, wincing. "That's a pretty dark way of putting things…"

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and turned toward the figure. "All right. I guess we're in your hands now. Um… Just so we can talk with you a bit more easily… What's your name?"

The figure inclined its head thoughtfully before giving a small smile.

"Mnemosyne," it answered.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Just to let you know, if it wasn't obvious, only the first part of "Ghosts" was from Jeri's POV. The rest of it jumped back in time to the actual event. Also researching the Himuro Mansion was hard as balls.


	2. Darkness and Dawn

**Authors Note:** So uh, this wasn't the chapter we were going to do originally, that's going to be next week, but we realized we never finished this off. So, here you go! This takes place during Chapter 39: Breaking the Ice in Mnemosyne.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Darkness and Dawn**

Rika walked down the street. She didn't know where she was going, and honestly, she didn't care. She just needed to be outside the hospital, somewhere far away. Somewhere _quiet_. The memories, while not as a horrendous onslaught as they were when she first woke up, still popped out of nowhere with the slightest trigger. It was like everything around her reminded her of _something_.

Passing by an old shrine, she glanced at it, remembering that before it fell to the wayside, she would visit at times with her grandmother. According to local legend, there was ghosts in those halls.

 _Stupid_ , she thought. _There is no such thing-_

That was when another headache overcame her. Hissing, holding her head again, she could see in her mind's eye Takato and Jeri, just under six years ago, with her in some run down place, following after a mysterious figure with short black hair down the hall, transparent beings giving them wide berth.

 _What … what is this …_

 **###**

Rika tried her best to make it appear her leg didn't hurt, didn't bother her, as they followed the mysterious stranger who only referred to themselves as Mnemosyne. While normally Rika would complain about their new 'companion' having a god complex, the fact it could shoot lightning and knew where their friends were kept her mouth surprisingly shut.

Jeri looked back and forth between Takato and Rika, pressing her lips together. Both were hurt, although Takato appeared to be recovering from his ankle injury despite having a door slam shut on it. She could see the concern in his eyes as he watched Rika struggle along. She knew that he admired her warrior spirit, and understood that she preferred to handle her problems by herself, she also knew that, sooner or later, Takato's nature - his desire to help others when they needed it - would win out in the end.

Watching him sigh and close his eyes, looking as though he were about to jump into the deep end of the pool for the first time, she saw that that time was now.

"Rika," he began. "Are you _sure_ you're okay? That leg… It doesn't look like it wants to cooperate with you." Drawing up to her, he gestured to himself. "Lean on me. We'll...kind of need you to be at full strength when we get to where the others are."

Jeri let out a very soft chuckle at that. Takato was appealing to the practical side of Rika's competitive nature. They were in a fight, he was basically telling her. There's no room for pride where lives are on the line.

Rika pressed her lips together. She didn't like asking for help. She didn't like receiving help. Still, what Takato said made sense, in a way. All the same, she wasn't going to roll over _that_ easily.

"A bit too late for that," she snarked, the old habit of responding in sarcasm - especially when stressed - refusing to quietly die. "I'm fine though. It's not like leaning on you is going to make anything magically better."

"He didn't say that," Jeri put in. "He just wants to make sure that you're not as tired or stressed out when it's time to fight or whatever we might have to do because you pushed yourself too hard."

Takato gave her a 'thank you' smile before turning back to Rika expectantly.

"Judging by the combative nature of her responses, I would say the likelihood of Rika Nonaka being stressed is already very high. Since it is night time when most humans sleep, the same goes for being tired," Mnemosyne said suddenly before glancing back, obsidian eyes looking at her. Rika hated those eyes. They reminded her of one of her cousins. "Although Takato Matsuki and Jeri Katou's suggestion is not without merit. It would be wise to take pressure off your leg to alleviate any further potential damage until medical attention is given to it."

Rika scowled even more, but a small " _Fine_ ," escaped her lips so quietly Jeri and Takato needed to strain their ears to hear it.

Takato gave the entity a 'thank you' smile of his own before moving closer to Rika, offering his shoulder again. "Um… How do you want to do this?" he asked, a bit worried about making her feel uncomfortable by his touch.

"Just … move at the same pace as me," Rika sighed, wrapping one arm around his shoulder, shifting weight off her injured foot before starting to do what she did best. Complain. "Jeez … you have an injured leg too."

"Not as bad as yours," Takato returned. "It'll bruise, but it's not sprained or anything."

"Thank the gods for small miracles," Rika muttered.

"Out of curiosity, what are you children doing in this place? It's clearly dangerous," Mnemosyne asked, shooing away another ghost who got too close with a bolt of lightning, before stopping to open a door to the outside, leading out back. A door Rika hadn't seen before when they were wandering around.

"Well…" Jeri blushed, looking down. "It was… We were bored, and I wanted to see if spirits were real."

"We're used to danger anyway," Takato said, keeping pace with Rika.

"That...doesn't excuse any of this though," Jeri replied quietly. "I was...reckless…"

"Jeri… Don't say that!" began Takato, drawing to a halt long enough to look at the brown-haired girl. "There was no way you could have known what would happen!"

"Yeah. Beside, I don't need help to get into trouble," Rika replied, seeming to look personally insulted. Sometimes with Rika, it could be hard what exactly she was thinking, especially with her warped sense of humor sometimes.

"Still... " Jeri shook her head. "It's my fault. I picked this place knowing its history. It wasn't even like when we went to the digital world. I...I picked this place because of 'fun', and not…"

"Jeri, stop it!" He inched away from Rika just enough to reach out and take hold of Jeri's hand, causing the girl to gasp in surprise and look up at him, a sharp blush crossing her features. His warm, red eyes blazed as they looked at each other, wanting to convey everything he couldn't put into words.

"Don't...blame yourself," he stammered out, trying to ignore his rather bold act as he continued to hold Jeri's hand.

"If you are done assigning blame for this predicament, we're here," Mnemosyne said, stopping in front of a small shrine in the middle of the yard, moonlight shining an eerie, heavenly glow around it. It took Rika a moment to realize since they entered the yard, no spirits were anywhere near them. Looking around, she could see some of them watching from the windows of the mansion, but…

 _This is weird_ , she thought, pressing her lips together.

Takato's face hardened with resolve as he traced the shrine carefully, imbedding it in his mind. It looked closer to a small garage, save for the highly stylized appearance with its ceramic roof tiles, gleaning in the moonlight. It reminded him a little of a human skull, and he repressed a shiver.

"If everyone's ready," he began, "let's go."

Starting toward the shrine, they all stepped inside. The room was empty in appearance, causing Takato's frown to deepen.

"There's no one here," Jeri said, echoing his thoughts unknowingly.

"That's because they are below," Mnemosyne replied, dark eyes straining against the moonlight, seeming to look for something until they paused in their search. Striding a few feet in front of them, Mnemosyne bent down and brushed off the floor, revealing a handle. Pulling up on it showed a hole.

Moving closer, all three children could see nothing but darkness. Even when they pointed their flashlights down the hole, the light wasn't able to reach the bottom.

"I will go first," Mnemosyne announced, looking at the children. "Jeri Katou will go next, followed by Takato Matsuki and then Rika Nonaka. Least injured to most injured."

And so they went, each of them going down the ladder wordlessly in turn. Takato thought about trying to keep Jeri out of this, but he doubted she would agree to it, and an argument would only waste valuable time.

 _I'll have to stay close to her,_ he thought, before remembering that Rika was injured. _I'll have to stay close to both of them…_

They descended through the darkness until finally touching down at the bottom. Light coming from a series of lanterns cascaded through the room, giving it a harsh, strangely cold glow. Takato wondered briefly where they came from before noticing the others, lying on the ground in the center of the room.

"Henry!" he exclaimed, starting forward to where the half-Chinese Tamer lay, unconscious, only to hesitate, wondering if there was a trap. He glanced over his shoulder at the others uncertainly.

"Um… We should probably figure out if there's a trap or something before running on in," he said.

"I sense no other life forms but us at the moment," Mnemosyne replied.

"Good thing we're not dealing with ghosts then," Rika responded sarcastically, but limped forward to the Chinese boy, dropping to his side and attempting to shake him awake. The other four were there too, but Rika's first concern was her other best friend.

Henry stirred and cracked his eyes open. Blinking blearily, he looked up at Rika and carefully sat up with a groan.

"Rika… Where… Where are we? What happened?"

He noticed Mnemosyne for the first time and his eyebrows rose. "Who's that?"

"Um… Mnemosyne," Takato supplied. "At least, that's what I was told. Um… I think it's a digimon? Only without the mon?"

"You should rouse the rest of your friends," Mnemosyne replied, not acknowledging what it was, although now wasn't the time or the place to be wondering about such things. "You children are still in danger, and carrying your companions up the ladder would be a foolhardy attempt even if none of you were injured."

Rika wasn't going to argue about that, and with Henry awake, stood up to go toward Miki - one of the remaining four who didn't grate on her nerves. Stepping into the circle, which everyone had been outside of at the moment, there was a loud screech and suddenly she found herself tied with rope.

"Wha-" she coughed, her hands going toward the rope which was strangling her neck, but found that she couldn't move her legs or arms, as her wrists and ankles were bound as well. Violet eyes widened and darted around, trying to figure what was going on.

"The evil … shall be sealed …" a woman's voice echoed from all around them. "Wrongs … shall … be … fixed. This one … with the closed heart … shall have to do."

" _Rika!"_ Takato vaulted over to the girl as soon as he spied that she was having trouble, followed quickly by Jeri, who gave a shout of surprise. Tripping over Kazu's inert form however, she fell to the hard stone floor, and her knees cried out as skin was erased from them, leaving twin, bleeding wounds that wept red across her skin.

Takato was in front of Rika within seconds. Grabbing her by her legs, he hoisted her up, hoping to loosen the stranglehold that the ropes had on her.

"What's going on around here?!" Henry exclaimed, suddenly appearing next to them, his hands already busy searching for a way to untie Rika's binds. "These weren't here a second ago!"

"Rika!" Takato grunted. "Oh Kami, please tell me you're all right…"

He clenched his eyes shut, afraid of what her answer would be...or the lack of it, signaling a fate far worse.

Rika opened her mouth, trying to speak, only for the binds to somehow tighten.

 _What sort of bullshit…_

Just then the room light up again, and she found herself able to move, a well placed lightning strike burning through the ropes.

"Get out of the circle!" Mnemosyne urged, the ropes, beginning to move again like snakes toward Rika as if they had a mind of their own. "It's not safe!"

Takato slung Rika's arm back over his shoulder, giving Henry a quick, meaningful look. The half-Chinese Tamer quickly followed suit and they both half-dragged, half ran Rika out of the circle. Upon their exit, Takato's eyes widened with horror and he quickly turned in the direction of the circle.

" _Jeri!"_ he shouted, only to find the girl joining them, her face flushed.

"Don't worry about me…" she gasped, her heart pounding in her chest. "The...The others…"

As if to drive the point home, a dark mist burst forth from the circle, and the kimono-wearing woman returned, black ropes in hand. Her appearance had changed a little, becoming corpse white and emaciated, and where her eyes had been now stood empty, bloody sockets. She drew in a hiss of breath, and the ropes, moving like snakes, reached down and encircled Miki and Ayaka's necks.

" _No!"_ Takato shouted, bursting forward. He didn't get very far however as the shadows suddenly took hold of his legs, tiny, black hands, flowing over him like water. They felt so cold to him… Like _ice._

The ice of the grave.

"Crap!" Rika swore, trying to going to help Takato, only to stumble thanks to her leg. Luckily, Henry caught her, holding her up, looking torn between chasing after Takato and making sure the injured redhead was OK. Luckily, it seemed Mnemosyne was once more on the case, lightning shooting out forward. The lightning forked outward, striking the ropes that wrapped around Ayaka and Miki's necks, burning them to a crisp and leaving the girls unharmed. Hissing again, the kimono-wearing woman lunged toward Mnemosyne, her nails becoming dagger long and viciously sharp.

Mnemosyne, face passive, dodged out of the way.

"It seems humans have the desire to fight as well," it noted to itself as Henry turned to Jeri imploringly.

"Help with Rika while I go help Takato," he urged.

"Wha…?" Jeri stammered. "But… Henry. W-What are you going to do? What _can_ you do?"

She shook her head. Without their partners, this battle was far beyond their ability to handle. The woman in the kimono was bad enough, but this other entity? It may be on their side, but who knew what _other_ reason it was here for?

 _Then again… It's not like we have much choice…_ she thought, her despair locked in combat with her desire to help her friends.

"I'm not sure," Henry replied. "But we _need_ to do something to help! If we can just get the others out of here while Mnemosyne keeps this…spirit distracted…"

His teeth clenched together at the word 'spirit.' Henry was a very logical person, and didn't like things that he couldn't explain very well, and spirits fit that description very well.

Setting that aside for now, he turned toward Jeri, his grey eyes blazing.

"If we're going to choose our own destiny, we need to start with choosing to _live!_ I'm getting us out of here!"

With that, he dashed forward, ducking to the side to avoid the worst of the fighting as now the kimono woman and Mnemosyne were circling each other, lightning crackling at Mnemosyne's fingers while cold mists billowed out from the woman's robes, flowing out like serpents.

Jeri felt her heart beating painfully hard in her chest, making it difficult to breathe and to think. Choose their own destiny? Choose to live? But…how could they in a place like this?

Jeri closed her eyes, remembering her imprisonment with the D-Reaper and how hopeless it had been. She could still feel that despair and terror clawing at the corners of her heart, promising shadow. Back then, Calumon had reaffirmed how much everyone cared for her and the lengths they would go to save her. Leomon's spirit had helped her, and then she used the power of her digivice to blow a hole in the Mother-Reaper's head.

Only…her digivice wasn't with her. It was at home. And Calumon wasn't here either. None of their digimon partners were. Without them…they were…vulnerable.

" _Be brave Jeri… You have a lion's heart."_

Jeri gasped, and looked up, the memory of her long dead partner somehow managing to dispel the gloom and shadow in her heart. Looking up, she found Rika struggling to help Takato as the shadowy hands now enveloped half of his body and were now climbing over his waist. Rika fought to grab hold of them – to _break_ them – but they slipped through her grasp each and every time.

"Rika!" Jeri shouted suddenly. "Your prayer! Try that!"

"Huh?" Rika said before facepalming. Of course. She had forgotten; her usual go-to solution was always violence. Letting go of the hands - for the moment, she made the nine cuts with her fingers, punctuating each with,""Celestial fighters, all arrange yourselves in front of me. Proceed!"

The hands paused, seeming to shiver at the power in Rika's words, and then retreated a bit. Takato took advantage of this to try and pull himself free, Rika grabbing hold of him and giving a great tug in the process, but this only caused the hands to redouble their efforts. Rushing over, Jeri grabbed hold of Takato and gave a sharp yank as well, but this time the boy's legs gave out from under him, the cold coursing through his body now like wildfire, numbing nerves and muscles. The hands flowed even faster now, reaching his ribs, and this time they resisted Rika's prayers.

"You guys…" Takato whispered, his head dipping as the cold crept into his mind now, making it hard for him to stay awake. "…get…get out of here…"

"Takato," wept Jeri, grabbing hold of his face and pulling his head up, trying to make him stay awake. "We won't leave you!"

"Rika… Get Jeri…out of here…"

"Gogglehead, I'm getting you both out! I'm getting us all out!" Rika declared, ever defiant in the face of trouble. Still, it wasn't like she knew what she could do, what they could do. Looking over to Henry for help, she had a hard time seeing him - or the others - in the blast.

First things first though. Keep Takato awake. Even if they woke up the others, if Takato went out on them, they still were back to square one because they couldn't carry an unconscious person straight up a ladder.

 _Sorry_ , she thought, and bringing her hand upwards, she slapped him across the face. Hard.

Jeri gasped as Takato's face whipped around, the boy crying out in pain and surprise. The fog of cold retreated, though the hands that crept up his body, now reaching up his chest, only continued to advance.

"Ow! Rika…!"

He didn't get very far.

Across from them, lightning crackled around Mnemosyne as he prepared to hurl another blast at the spirit. Shadows grew immensely around her however and drew into her body, causing her to grow, the force of her will becoming stronger in return. The air took on a thick, heavy feel to it and for the first time Mnemosyne struggled to move, but only for an instant as he adjusted.

That instant was all the spirit needed to press her attack.

Moving quickly, she slammed her enlarged hand into him, claws stabbing into his arm as she smashed him to the floor. Electricity spilled out into the shadows, his power going out of control and arching first toward Henry as he lifted Ayaka up into his arms, and then leaping at the remaining Tamers. The shadow hands froze in their advance as the lightning ripped through them and into Takato, Rika and Jeri's bodies. Light _blazed_ around Takato, Rika and Henry in particular, growing in intensity as Henry collapsed to the ground and Rika clamped her hands around her head, clenching her teeth, struggling to maintain control; to keep from screaming. Through the pain she refused to fall. If she were to die this day, it would be on her feet.

All this Mnemosyne saw as it struggled to rally, the pain of its attackers claws tearing through digital muscle. Under normal circumstances, the real world had difficulty effecting digital life forms, but spirits were…unusual, and difficult to quantify. At best they could be described as a primitive digimon, only that was an extreme oversimplification. Not that it mattered. All that did was that the spirit could affect it, making it an _extreme_ danger.

Not because Mnemosyne believed its life would end – it had enough backup copies – but the damage done to its systems by an unknown factor could be…catastrophic.

Air warped around Mnemosyne and expanded outward, enveloping the Tamers in the room. The spirit recoiled suddenly at this, ripping her claws free from Mnemosyne's arm. Lights flickered, orbs settling over Takato and Henry before merging with them. More lights; images now of events – Takato fighting D-Reaper as Gallantmon; Rika and Renamon biomerging for the first time; Devas wrecking havoc in Shinjuku; Henry and Terriermon as MegaGargomon battling a blazing, phoenix bird…

The spirit looked on with horror with its empty eyes. Ghostly forms flickered around Rika, Takato and Henry…all armored. A black, skin-tight outfit formed alongside the armor, and a golden fox-mask settled over her face while large red shoulder guards appeared on Takato as he became encased in a suit of armor; medieval in appearance, like a knight, only blood-red. Cannons and steel solidified around Henry, a virtual living tank bristling with destruction. His grey eyes glowed as he rose back to his feet. Power coursing through him. He raised a hand and devastation bloomed around the spirit, breaking the circle.

The spirit hissed, but refused to leave. The shadows encroached on her, making her grow in strength…

No…

They didn't.

They retreated.

A song filled the air, and light burned around her. Rika, her Shinto prayers aided by this unexpected event, flowed with an undeniable strength, tearing dark spirits away from the kimono woman, diminishing her strength.

And then…the remaining boy. The knight.

Great, angelic wings broke free from his back as the shadow hands shattered under Rika's power, and he rose, eyes glowing gold.

A twin-bladed spear appeared in his hand and he then spoke a single word.

" _Quo Vadis."_

The kimono woman's final sight was that of a blinding crimson light, destroying all vision and then…silence.

 **###**

Rika gasped, holding her head, her breathing hard and heavy, trying to process the information she just recalled. It didn't make sense - spirits being real? Accessing Sakuyamon's power without Renamon? And what happened after that? How did they get out and why was this not mentioned in the earlier discussion?

 _What's going on?_


	3. Truth in the Shadows

**Authors Note:** Sorry this took an extra week to get out. You'll find though that what it lacks in length it will make up in plot relevancy. This takes place during Chapter 39: Breaking the Ice.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Truth in the Shadows**

" _Ryo…"_

"Huh?" Ryo sat up from his bed. "Is that you Akane?" he called out from his bed.

" _Did you say something?"_ came the response from down the hall in the direction of the living room. Ryo rewound the memory of the voice he _thought_ he heard and frowned.

It hadn't sounded like her. The voice was far too deep.

"Never mind," he called back. Not receiving a response, he frowned and looked about the room.

His eyes fell upon the sheen of a glowing, green card sitting on the desk on the far end of the room.

The card throbbed with green light, but remained dim. Getting up from off the bed, Ryo went over to it and picked it up.

"Hey," he greeted it. "Was that…you calling to me?" he asked.

There was no response from the card, save for its light vanishing once he touched it. As with before, it had a strange, holographic look to it that displayed the letter _D_ and a crude, pixelated dinosaur next to it that appeared and disappeared as Ryo turned it over in his hand. Ryo ran a tongue over his lips, thinking about the card slot in his strange digital device.

The card appeared to him before, and it did so now again.

 _Nothing ventured, nothing gained,_ he decided, setting the card to the slot. _Besides, Hypnos never tells me anything about what they found with this thing._

He slashed the card through the slot, and lightning sparked as the digivice read the data.

At first, nothing happened, and then the whole world _lurched._

 **###**

 _Flash._

Ryo cursed under his breath as the lights in the room dimmed and darkened, plunging everything into shadow. Outside, thunder shook his home, and a bolt of lightning briefly illuminated the blank monitor of his father's computer. A thunderstorm in _December!_ And on the verge of the new millennium…

Of _all_ the times for this to happen! Right when he was in the middle of a discussion in a chat room about the incident in Odaiba a few months ago, back in August; an incident that the Japanese government covered up considerably. It had taken him months to locate a server with sufficient protection to avoid scrutiny and censorship so that he could _finally_ discuss everything that he heard about what happened then, and the images that dotted the Internet… Images of _monsters_ fighting each other.

 _I was so close…_ Ryo thought, running a hand through his hair. Getting up, he started to head out of the room to see if the problem involved the fuse box…only to stop when the computer screen flickered back on.

The computer screen and nothing else, save for a voice.

" _..o? Hello? Can anyone here me? I need help…"_

Turning back to the computer with a raised eyebrow, he found himself starting in shock as light suddenly burst forth from it, and a small, angular device with a screen at its center emerged. He stood there, transfixed by the device, radiating with such force that he felt something inside him rising… _surging_ alongside it. Something about the device called to him and he raised his hand toward it. As though it sensed his motion, the voice from the computer spoke, desperate; pleading.

" _Take it,"_ it said. " _Take the digivice! Please! Tai and Matt need your help! They were captured by evil digimon! I can't do it alone!"_

Ryo didn't understand a thing that the voice was saying, yet his hand moved of its own volition all the same. His hand fell upon the digivice and the next thing he knew was a swirl of color and blinding light, dragging him into the screen…and to another place far beyond his wildest imaginings.

 **###**

 _Flash._

" _We did it!"_

Ryo heard Wormmon shout in victory as their opponent crashed to the ground – a massive, dinosaur-like creature with dark scales, a glowing, beastly aura atop its head with a pair of twin, shoulder mounted mechanical cannons attached. The monster roared as its body dissolved, sending a cloud of dark… Ryo blinked as something whizzed by him. Something small and black, like a seed. He only saw it for a fraction of a second, but before he could fully process it he heard a shout of " _Get down!"_ before being knocked forcefully to the desert sand below. The dark-haired boy responsible for the act – his best friend and confident Ken Ichijouji – jerked and twisted, his face writhing in agony before he collapsed down alongside him.

" _Ken!"_ he shouted, the cloud passing over them as quickly as it arrived and he pushed himself up and rushed over to him, Wormmon not far behind. " _What happened?"_

" _Something struck him in the back of his neck,"_ Wormmon replied, worry plain on his insectoid face. " _I don't know what it was."_

Reaching out, Ryo ran a hand along the back of his neck, trying to find whatever it was that hit his friend. There was a plainly obvious red swelling already forming, but no other damage marred the flesh.

" _I…guess that's it?"_ he said aloud in confusion. " _No… Something's wrong. He has a fever…"_

 **###**

" _You know ...Machinedramon was your true partner_." Millenniummon murmured, effortlessly pushing back Monodramon with ease, the power difference between the mega who plagued Ryo, making it impossible for him to rest, and the rookie who fought loyally by his side without any hidden agenda since they first met, even more apparent. " _And as you know … Machinedramon is one within me. Don't you see? We're partners? It's why we are tied by fate!"_

 _No_ … Ryo thought numbly. No, Millenniummon of all Digimon couldn't be his partner. Not Millenniummon, who was the reason his life was hell. That he was even forced into these battles in the first place. While in the past he would have jumped at the chance of being some unique legendary hero, now …

" _Cracking Bite!"_ the scrappy rookie yelled, refusing to yield despite the overwhelming odds against him.

No his partner would be someone who was there through thick and thin; who looked out for Ryo's interests and well-being instead of playing some perverse game. Someone like …

" _Monodramon…"_

Just then a bright light filled the corridor, and Ryo could only watch in horror as the two fighting for the title of his partner began to fuse together, their data and digital frames beginning to mesh.

" _Monodramon!"_ he yelled rushing forward, trying to help the rookie in any way he could, but by the time he got there, there was just a single digital egg where his partner … or partners used to be.

 **###**

The sky was red. Ryo squinted his eyes, sweat dripping down his brow. Pulling at his bandana, he surveyed his surroundings, or what was left of them.

 _What city was this?_ He wondered, Cyberdramon by his side growling threateningly, although amongst the rubbles of what appeared to be buildings and bridges, the Legendary Tamer couldn't make out a single living soul. The only real thing of note - as far as Ryo could see anyway - was a giant red … _blob_ which he didn't notice at first as it merged with the skyline.

He wasn't sure why he decided to go to this new world instead of home - he was certainly tired of fighting and all the bullshit the Digital World threw at him - but at the time he felt like if he went home, he never would escape the grasp the digital world.

He was seeing now perhaps that wasn't the best idea; wherever he was _now_ was in far more need of help than ever before.

If he didn't know better, he would assume Millenniummon was behind this. But that was impossible now.

" _Hey._ "

There was a snarl in the form of a greeting, and surprised, the Legendary Tamer whipped around to see two other teenagers around the same age as him staring back. It took him a moment to notice each had Digimon flanking them - a Renamon and a Terriermon respectively - so distracted by their battle scars. While he was taught not to stare, he couldn't help it.

The boy - Chinese by the looks of it - was minus one arm, an ugly scar where his elbow used to be. The girl - while she could be pretty maybe once upon a time - had scars across her face, marring it. By the looks of things, she barely avoided losing her left eye with how close the raised flesh was to her socket.

" _Who the fuck are you and where did you come from?!_ " she growled, taking a threatening step forward, only for the boy with her to hold a hand out, stopping her in her tracks.

" _Rika_ ," he said simply before looking at Ryo, his grey eyes cautious and tired. Ryo knew that look; it was a look he was well familiar with, wearing it himself in what he thought was the past. " _Still, please do answer the question. If we don't have to fight you, that would be beneficial._ "

" _I'm … Ryo Akiyama_ ," the Legendary Tamer answered hesitantly after a moment, looking around again. " _What … what happened here?_ "

" _What … what_ happened?" the girl spluttered angrily. " _Have you been living under a rock for the last four years?_ "

" _Rika_ ," the boy warned once again, before sighing, turning to Ryo. " _Still, it's a bit shocking you don't remember. After all, thanks to the D-reaper, everything on this planet is going all but extinct_."

 **###**

Ryo awoke, finding himself lying on the floor, the green card and his digivice sitting next to him. The screen of the digivice glowed and then the figure of a man appeared, standing on it. He was translucent, and looked haggard, his red beard having gone through considerable growth that went well beyond societal concerns of appearance. Ryo felt a strange…familiarity regarding him, and before he knew it, a word…a name…escaped his mouth.

"Shibumi…" he whispered, and as though his name had been a signal, the holographic apparition began to speak.

" _If you are receiving this…"_ the image began, only to glitch, a massive jerking of the image ran along its length, garbling its words before stabilizing. " _Ryo…escaped Mnemosyne. He must…"_ Another glitch ate a word. "… _imprisoned by any means necessary. He's a power beyond anything we've seen before. If we don't stop him…"_ Shibumi's face set itself into a sorrowful expression before continuing. " _I'm sorry. I actually thought…we could trust him. I should have known… The timeline…"_

There came another glitch, followed by another and finally Shibumi's body froze, and then dissolved into a thousand shards of light before vanishing. The glow in the digivice winked out of existence. With a groan, Ryo pushed himself up to his knees and lifted up the digivice and the green card, surprised that it was still there.

He had the distinct feeling that such colored cards normally disappeared upon use.

"Just…what is going on here…?" he wondered aloud before pressing a hand to his head.


End file.
